Authentic Philanthropy

By Richard C. Morais

The current rage for philanthropy is in danger of turning into a Pyrrhic victory for charitable causes. It seems that every public relations or marketing pitch I get these days has a bit of me-too philanthropy tacked on. Earlier this year I received a pitch for the “World’s First Philanthropic Vacation Club”. Overpay for your hotel rooms and this room aggregator will be able to “donate $1 billion to charity every 10 years” – or so the press release claimed. This pitch was promptly followed by a request I write about Cold-EEZE’s campaign, “Catch A Cause, Not A Cold.” It totally put me off my lunch.

We are witnessing, in full battle mode, what the writer Paul Theroux calls the “Virtue Industry.” Philanthropic causes are ever more frequently hijacked for corporate marketing purposes, much to the damage of the charity championed and the brands believing they are “doing good.”

What they forget: Wealthy families are the best detectors of BS, bar none, by virtue of the fact they are pitched all day long. Nothing will turn them off a brand or company more than a fig leaf of charity trying to disguise a transparent sales pitch. What they are looking for is authenticity, both in the brands they consume and the causes they back. An insincere “charitable” effort, obviously meant to benefit the company more than the cause, can irreparably damage the non-profit and the brand alike.

With this in mind, Barron’s Penta and the Luxury Marketing Council convened earlier this week a world-class panel of smart folk at the DiMenna Center in New York. The theme of the night was, “Authentic Philanthropy: The New Age of Corporate Giving.” On the panel were Page Snow, chief philanthropic officer of Foundation Source; Danny Meyer, the chief executive officer of the Union Square Hospitality Group; and Jasmine Audemars, chairwoman of the luxury Swiss watch brand, Audemars Piguet.

Foundation Source is a service provider to private foundations, and in many ways Page Snow is the eyes and ears of 1200 family foundations across the country. She walked us through case-studies of cause-marketing that either worked well or failed abysmally. An image of the Food Network, and its work with the charity, Nokidhungry.org, was thrown up on the screen. A cable station devoted to cooking, coupled to charitable efforts to feed poor and hungry children, was a logical partnership and rang true.

Not so the Louis Vuitton ad campaign of singer Bono and his wife exiting a private plane in the African savannah, each toting Louis Vuitton luggage. While proceeds of the Louis Vuitton bag advertised went to an African charity, the image of a pampered rock star couple coming out of a private plane with their luxurious luggage was tasteless and off-putting — the Louis Vuitton bags they were carrying could probably keep an entire African village alive through a major drought. The ad left the impression of a crassly commercial and cynical brand, the exact opposite of what Louis Vuitton was trying to accomplish.

Luckily, we had some fine examples on the panel of how to properly twin a luxury brand with authentic charitable efforts. Danny Meyer, the chief executive officer of the Union Square Hospitality Group, impeccably runs some of New York’s finest eateries, from the Gramercy Tavern to Shake Shack. But he is also a tireless advocate for the poor and hungry, and sits on the boards of Share our Strength and City Harvest, among his many other charitable commitments.

Meyer talked about how his first priority is to attract and keep the absolute best employees, those with a high “hospitality quotient” or HQ, which is human resource-speak for folks who get high satisfaction levels from “serving” others. While many restaurants might serve an excellent dish of skate, Meyer said, he distinguishes his restaurants from competitors’ restaurants through the service and ambiance created by his employees. To that end, seamlessly integrating his philanthropic works into his business has benefitted his company immensely, as it has helped him attract staff with very high HQ levels. All this he learned, almost by accident, when he first opened the Union Square Café and found his employees asking if they could donate their free days to serve food at the community food festival he was supporting in the neighborhood.

Offering a completely different example of “authentic philanthropy” was Jasmine Audemars. In 1992, when her family-owned watch company celebrated the 20th anniversary of its best-seller, the Royal Oak watch, Jasmine’s father established the Audemars Piguet Foundation. The company is headquartered in Switzerland’s Le Brassus, in the “Valley of Trees”, and is surrounded by the largest (and protected) forest left in Europe. Appreciating the privilege of living near these remarkable woods, Jasmine and her father focused the charitable foundation on forestry preservation around the world, and educating children in ecology “so they would educate their parents.” The AP Foundation has supported some remarkable conservation efforts, including teaching Senegalese how to cook using mud ovens, which use less wood, while replacing the decimated mangroves that once hid scores of fish in their roots but were chopped down for firewood.

Interestingly, Jasmine Audemars has gone in an entirely different direction than Meyer, in her case deliberately running the charitable foundation entirely separate from Audemars Piguet, so the charitable efforts of the foundation are not hijacked for commercial reasons by the watch company. The church and state separation is reinforced by the foundation’s own communication officer, whose sole mission is to impart the facts about the charitable projects, free from muddled commercial messages. The exception to the arm’s length rule: the foundation helped AP build a state-of-the-art factory on the highest ecological standards, including using wood that was never treated by chemicals, recycled concrete, and running the plant on hydroelectric power. It was the first factory in Switzerland ever awarded the stringent Minergie-Eco label.

The take away from the evening: There is no formula for authentic philanthropy. Each company and brand must find its own way to support charitable causes by tapping their core culture and essence. That’s what keeps it real.

About Penta

Written with Barron’s wit and often contrarian perspective, Penta provides the affluent with advice on how to navigate the world of wealth management, how to make savvy acquisitions ranging from vintage watches to second homes, and how to smartly manage family dynamics.

Richard C. Morais, Penta’s editor, was Forbes magazine’s longest serving foreign correspondent, has won multiple Business Journalist Of The Year Awards, and is the author of two novels: The Hundred-Foot Journey and Buddhaland, Brooklyn. Robert Milburn is Penta’s reporter, both online and for the quarterly magazine. He reviews everything from family office regulations to obscure jazz recordings.